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Question No. 3646 10 September 2026 Official answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat) verified Content level: Intermediate

آیا مستی عقل و دل با سخنان خوب ایرادی ندارد؟

Primary reference: See the answer text 56 views 23 explanatory notes and annotations
Verified answer Documented and evidence-based
Dear questioner, Master Ali Saei
Tracking code: #Q-3646

In *Inner Ablution*, on page 197, you write about being intoxicated by words: “Speech is like wine; it intoxicates minds and hearts. We should not let the words of the corrupt intoxicate our minds and hearts.”

My question is: Should we make sure that the mind and heart are not intoxicated by any words at all, whether good or corrupt, and prevent this intoxication? Should the mind and heart learn not to be stirred by words altogether, or is it all right for good words to intoxicate the mind and heart?

Also, should a speaker try not to intoxicate other people’s minds and hearts, whether with good words or bad ones? Is that the right understanding?
َّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ

Subject category: Ethics and Spirituality

The essence and first answer at a glance (60-word summary)

Being intoxicated by words means allowing the mind and heart to be affected by corrupt speech—a state that Satan brings about through various stratagems. Good and truthful words do not intoxicate the mind and heart; they awaken and guide them. We must guard the mind and heart against corrupt speech, but being enraptured by words of truth is neither wrong nor undesirable.

Answer by Master Ali Saei (Abdullah Meshkat)

Teacher and researcher in the intellectual tradition of wisdom and the Ahl al-Bayt | Soroush Bamdadān Cultural Center

Intoxication begins in the heart.
The speaker is the means—the very cup that holds the intoxicating wine!

Satanic forces rely on polished speech and musical embellishment, on rhetorical flourishes, repetitive and suggestive tricks, and psychological conditioning designed to tempt. They may choose a particular individual as the mouthpiece for satanic discourse, cloaking that person in a deceptive appearance; or they may use mass media, with carefully crafted sights and sounds and techniques calibrated to the rhythms of brain and heart, to gain the upper hand over people’s hearts. They also identify their audiences’ needs, hopes and feelings, then tailor their media and language to penetrate the innermost depths of their hearts and take them captive.

At other levels, they use language that seems literary, scientific, wise or philosophical, and enlist people with an air of respectability.

Supplication 20 of the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya is a comprehensive guide, cast as a prayer, to liberation from every kind of captivity—including captivity to the media!

Al-Ḥajj: 30 ذلِكَ وَ مَنْ يُعَظِّمْ حُرُماتِ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَهُ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِ وَ أُحِلَّتْ لَكُمُ الْأَنْعامُ إِلاَّ ما يُتْلى‌ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاجْتَنِبُوا الرِّجْسَ مِنَ الْأَوْثانِ وَ اجْتَنِبُوا قَوْلَ الزُّورِ
This is so. Whoever honours the sacred ordinances of God, it is better for them in the sight of their Lord. Livestock are lawful for you, except what has been recited to you as forbidden. So shun the abomination of idols, and shun false speech!

Al-Anʿām: 112 وَ كَذلِكَ جَعَلْنا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا شَياطينَ الْإِنْسِ وَ الْجِنِّ يُوحي‌ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلى‌ بَعْضٍ زُخْرُفَ الْقَوْلِ غُرُوراً وَ لَوْ شاءَ رَبُّكَ ما فَعَلُوهُ فَذَرْهُمْ وَ ما يَفْتَرُونَ
Thus We appointed for every prophet an enemy: devils from among humankind and jinn, who secretly whispered to one another alluring, baseless words to deceive people. Had your Lord willed, they would not have done so; He could have restrained them, but compulsion serves no purpose. So leave them to their inventions and their falsehoods!

Familiarising the heart with the words of the Two Weighty Things—the Qur’an and the Prophet’s Household—is a powerful ally against every satanic intoxication.

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